What do you do when...

[Kacey]

A thread I posted about a girl who couldn't get to school caused me to think about the more serious problem that I see her being representative of. People complain and excuse when things don't work the way they should - but how many of you do something about it?

Here's an example of what I mean: last year, Denver had several heavy snow storms, including one blizzard, starting in mid-December. After the first blizzard, the city cleared the main streets, and sent plows down every road. The day the plows (there were 2) came down my street, it was 50 or so degrees (this is actually normal for Denver in the winter; it snows, it gets warm, snow melts, repeat). The slush on the street was about 6" deep. The plow blades on the trucks were retracted completely - the plows just drove down the street, stirred up the slush (making it worse than it was before) and away they went. My street wasn't actually clear of ice again until mid-March; it was plowed thoroughly the week before it all melted anyway. I called my council representative; I emailed the mayor's office; I called and emailed the Department of Public Works - and the next time it snowed, my street was plowed - not down to the street (there was too much ice) but enough to keep it passable. It snowed again - and my street wasn't plowed... the park sidewalks were, across the street, but not the street itself - I contacted the above, and convinced several of my neighbors to do the same - and lo and behold, our street was plowed down to the ice layer every time it snowed the rest of the winter... and so was the rest of the neighborhood. But I was the only one (that I know of) in my area who did more than complain to my neighbors - and that's why we got a better response.

So... what do you do when things go wrong (or right)? Do you vote in local elections? Do you contact your government representatives? Do you know how to contact your government representatives? Do you even know what your options are?

 

[Sukerkin]

Sad to say, I'm a victim of Political Cynicism Fatigue.

I don't vote but it's a form of protest in and of itself rather than simple lack of effort - I don't like any of the choices we're offered and haven't done for quite some time.

My missus does and, admittedly with some justification, tells me I can't moan about local services if I haven't had some part in the process of putting people in charge of those services.

If services are dire, as they frequently are, I take it as no more than normal, lacklustre, self-serving, semi-to-fully-corrupt government in action. Even things that should cause me to protest in outrage, such as selling off public land to developers to build so-called luxury apartments that noone wants, fail to kindle that spark I once had.

I am somewhat ashamed of this now I come to write of it. Perhaps I should make at least some attempt to protest that latter matter I speak of as it's getting way out of hand and it's clear that money's going into someones back pocket to get the permissions.

 

[ChadWarner]

Interesting comments... Power in numbers seems to be the way the system works. That and yelling at people when you not being treated right. I saw someone declare our next president will be caligula, I thought it started with carter destablizing the mid east and the bush dynasty putting in the exclamation mark. If the top level of government is corrupt so are the bottom layers, and where I live there is one scandal after another no matter party affiliation. I guess prison is just a holding camp for illegals from mexico...

It is a good idea to complain in numbers though- gather the troops because if enough voters are annoyed then those who hold office could be removed out of anger.

Good post